ISC Class 11 Abhisara: The Tryst – Rabindranath Tagore: Explanation and Solved Questions
Updated 15 October 2026 · Fact-checked
In Abhisara: The Tryst, the Buddhist monk Upagupta, sleeping by Mathura's city wall, is woken by a rich dancing girl who invites him home. He promises to come 'when the time is ripe'. Months later he finds her outside the city, struck by plague and abandoned, and nurses her: the time for his visit has come.
What Abhisara: The Tryst – Rabindranath Tagore is about
Abhisara: The Tryst by Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) is one of the five poems in Rhapsody: A Collection of ISC Poems prescribed for ISC Class XI by the ISC 2028 syllabus. Tagore, the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (1913), wrote the poem in Bengali as *Abhisar*; his own English prose-poem version appeared in *Fruit-Gathering* (1916). The story comes from Buddhist legend: Upagupta, a disciple in the line of the Buddha, and a beautiful dancing girl of Mathura, named Vasavadatta in the legend and in some versions of the poem.
The title is ironic. *Abhisar* (Sanskrit *abhisara*) means a lover's journey to a secret meeting, a tryst. The dancing girl seems to offer such a meeting, but the true tryst is the monk's visit when she is diseased, outcast and alone: a meeting of compassion, not desire.
The poem is a short narrative in two scenes of free verse: a stormy August night when she invites him, and a moonlit spring night months later when he keeps his promise. CISCE poetry questions test 'the content, understanding and the personal response of candidates to the entire poem' and 'stylistic and literary features'. Expect questions on the two meetings and their contrasts, Upagupta's reply 'when the time is ripe', the imagery of night, storm and spring, the meaning of the title, and the theme of compassion.
Quotations here follow Tagore's public-domain translation in *Fruit-Gathering* (Project Gutenberg #6522), checked against a widely used study text of the Rhapsody version. Rhapsody's text differs slightly (for example, it names Vasavadatta and adds a line marking the passing of time), so check your book.
Weightage: CISCE publishes no chapter weightage. In the CISCE Literature pattern the poetry has a 20-mark question (5 + 5 + 10) shared among the poems, plus a share of the one-mark items. Class XI papers are set by schools.Source: CISCE ISC 2028 English (801) syllabus, Literature in English, Class XI (Rhapsody)
Abhisara: The Tryst – Rabindranath Tagore: explanation
In our own words, in the order of the text. Read the NCERT text itself too: the board quotes from it.
The first meeting: a night in August. Upagupta, 'the disciple of Buddha', lies asleep on the dust by the city wall of Mathura. It is a dark monsoon night: 'Lamps were all out, doors were all shut, and stars were all hidden by the murky sky of August.' Suddenly feet tinkling with anklets touch his breast. He wakes, startled, and the light of a woman's lamp falls on his 'forgiving eyes'. She is the dancing girl, 'starred with jewels, clouded with a pale-blue mantle, drunk with the wine of her youth'. Lowering her lamp, she sees his young face, 'austerely beautiful'. She asks his forgiveness and invites him to her house, saying the dusty earth is not a fit bed for him. He replies, 'Woman, go on your way; when the time is ripe I will come to you.' Then lightning flashes, 'the black night showed its teeth', the storm growls, and the woman trembles in fear.
The second meeting: a night in spring. Time passes and it is spring. The wayside trees ache with blossom, flute music floats on the warm air, and the citizens have gone to the woods for the festival of flowers. The full moon gazes on the silent town. Upagupta walks through the lonely street while love-sick koels call from the mango branches. He passes through the city gates and stands at the base of the rampart. There, in the shadow of the wall, lies a woman 'struck with the black pestilence, her body spotted with sores', hurriedly driven out of the town.
The tryst. The ascetic sits beside her, takes her head on his knees, moistens her lips with water and smears her body with balm. 'Who are you, merciful one?' she asks. He answers, 'The time, at last, has come to visit you, and I am here.'
The woman who once had beauty, wealth and admirers is now abandoned by everyone; the monk who refused her invitation is the only one who comes. His promise is kept at the moment she most needs it.
Themes and message
Compassion and selfless love
Upagupta's love is spiritual and selfless. He refuses an invitation offered from desire and pride, but serves the woman when she is outcast and diseased, without fear or disgust. Tagore presents compassion as the highest form of love.
From the text: 'The ascetic sat by her side, taking her head on his knees, and moistened her lips with water and smeared her body with balm.'
The transience of beauty and worldly pleasure
The dancing girl is first 'drunk with the wine of her youth', glittering with jewels; months later her body is 'spotted with sores' and she is driven out of the town. Physical beauty and the admiration it brings do not last.
From the text: 'struck with the black pestilence, her body spotted with sores, hurriedly driven away from the town'.
True timing ('when the time is ripe')
Upagupta's promise is fulfilled not when she wants him but when she needs him. The poem suggests that the right time for love is the time of need.
From the text: 'when the time is ripe I will come to you' and 'The time, at last, has come to visit you, and I am here'.
Society's indifference
The city celebrates a festival of flowers while the sick woman lies abandoned outside its walls. The citizens who once admired her have cast her out; only the monk cares.
From the text: 'The citizens had gone to the woods, to the festival of flowers.'
The speaker and the people in the poem
Upagupta
A young Buddhist ascetic, disciple of the Buddha
- Calm, austere and self-controlled
- Forgiving and compassionate
- True to his word
He sleeps on the dust, meets the woman with 'forgiving eyes', declines her invitation gently, and keeps his promise by nursing her when she is abandoned.
The dancing girl (Vasavadatta in the legend)
A rich and beautiful dancer of Mathura
- Proud and attractive at first
- Courteous in her invitation
- Later helpless and alone
First 'starred with jewels... drunk with the wine of her youth'; she asks 'Forgive me, young ascetic'; later she lies 'struck with the black pestilence' and asks, 'Who are you, merciful one?'
Poetic devices
| Device | Example | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Contrast (two scenes) | August storm and darkness versus spring moonlight and blossom; jewels versus sores; invitation versus abandonment. | The parallel structure shows how completely fortune changes and how unchanging the monk's compassion is. |
| Personification | 'the black night showed its teeth in a flash of lightning'; 'The storm growled'. | Makes nature threatening, foreshadowing the woman's later fate. |
| Metaphor | 'starred with jewels, clouded with a pale-blue mantle, drunk with the wine of her youth'. | Presents her beauty as dazzling but also intoxicated and proud. |
| Irony in the title | 'Abhisara' means a lover's secret meeting. | The real tryst is not sensual but an act of mercy at the city wall. |
| Rhetorical questions | 'Whose feet were those tinkling with anklets, touching his breast of a sudden?'; 'What woman lay in the shadow of the wall at his feet...?' | Create suspense and mirror each other at the start of the two meetings. |
Key quotations
Short lines worth knowing by heart: who says them, when, and why they matter.
Upagupta, the disciple of Buddha, lay asleep on the dust by the city wall of Mathura.
The narrator: The opening line.
Establishes the monk's humility and the setting at the city wall, where the poem ends.
the light from a woman's lamp struck his forgiving eyes.
The narrator: The first meeting.
'forgiving eyes' reveals his compassionate nature from the start.
Woman, go on your way; when the time is ripe I will come to you.
Upagupta: Declining her invitation.
A promise whose meaning becomes clear only at the end.
Suddenly the black night showed its teeth in a flash of lightning.
The narrator: The end of the first meeting.
Personification and foreboding: danger lies ahead for the woman.
The time, at last, has come to visit you, and I am here
Upagupta: The last line, as he nurses her.
The promise is kept; the tryst is an act of compassion.
Abhisara: The Tryst – Rabindranath Tagore in real life
Each concept, met in an everyday situation. Read the situation, answer the question in your own words, then compare with the model answer. The one-line hook is what to remember.
Help at the time of need
Suppose a once-popular classmate is hospitalised for weeks and most friends stop visiting.
Which idea in the poem does this situation reflect?
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Admiration comes easily when someone is attractive or successful.
- Real care is tested when they are ill or alone.
- Upagupta comes precisely 'when the time is ripe'.
Answer: The poem suggests that true friendship or love shows itself in hard times. The friend who visits the hospital is keeping Upagupta's kind of tryst.
Memory hook: The right time to come is when no one else does.
Stigma and disease
Imagine a neighbour with a contagious illness being avoided by the whole building.
How does the monk's behaviour offer a model?
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- The town drove the woman out in fear.
- Upagupta tends her without fear, with water and balm.
- Compassion can coexist with sensible care.
Answer: Like health workers who care for patients during epidemics, the monk shows that the sick deserve dignity and care, not abandonment.
Memory hook: Balm, not banishment.
The passing of beauty and fame
Suppose a celebrity who was once surrounded by fans is forgotten after an accident ends her career.
What does the poem say about such reversals?
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- The dancer was 'starred with jewels', admired and confident.
- Within months she lies alone, 'spotted with sores'.
- Worldly success is fragile; compassion endures.
Answer: The poem reminds us not to measure people, or ourselves, by beauty or popularity, which can vanish quickly.
Memory hook: Jewels fade; kindness stays.
Topics in this chapter
How the school exam asks Abhisara: The Tryst – Rabindranath Tagore
The question patterns to expect, and the method that works for each.
| Question type | How it is asked | Method |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple-choice question (1 mark) | The season of each meeting, the meaning of 'forgiving eyes', the device in 'the black night showed its teeth', why the citizens were absent. | Contrast the two scenes: August night and storm; spring night and festival. |
| Complete the sentence with a reason (1 mark) | 'The woman invited Upagupta to her house because ____'; 'The woman was lying outside the city wall because ____'. | One clause in the poem's terms: because she was struck with the black pestilence and driven out of the town. |
| 5-mark answer on two bullet points (100-150 words) | 'Describe the first meeting between Upagupta and the dancing girl. • The setting • Their exchange.' | Two halves with short quotations. |
| 10-mark analytical answer (200-250 words) | 'Comment on the appropriateness of the title' or 'How does Tagore use contrast to convey the message of the poem?' | Position; four or five points with evidence; personal response; conclusion. |
Tricks to remember Abhisara: The Tryst – Rabindranath Tagore
Short memory aids. Say each one aloud once, then use it on a question the same day.
Storm then Spring
First meeting: August Storm, invitation. Second: Spring moon, sickness, service.
Use it when: Keep the two scenes apart.
Ripe time = right time
'when the time is ripe' is fulfilled by 'The time, at last, has come'.
Use it when: Explain the promise and its fulfilment.
Abhisara: The Tryst – Rabindranath Tagore: exam-level solved questions
Ordered from exam level to HOTS. Cover the solution, write your own, then compare step by step.
Example 1: MCQ: the personification · 1 mark · MCQExam level
'Suddenly the black night showed its teeth in a flash of lightning.' The device and its effect are (a) simile; it makes the night seem peaceful (b) personification; it makes the night seem threatening, like a beast (c) alliteration; it imitates the sound of thunder (d) hyperbole; it exaggerates the woman's beauty.
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- The night is given teeth: a human or animal feature.
- Bared teeth suggest menace; the woman trembles in fear.
Answer: (b) personification; it makes the night seem threatening, like a beast.
Example 2: Reason completion: 'when the time is ripe' · 1 mark · Very short answerHarder exam level
Complete the sentence: Upagupta declines the dancing girl's invitation because ____.
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- As an ascetic he does not accept an invitation offered out of attraction.
- He will come 'when the time is ripe', when he is truly needed.
Answer: ...as a monk he has no use for the comfort she offers, and he will come only when the right time arrives, when she truly needs him.
Example 3: 5-mark model: the first meeting · 5 marks · Long answerExam level
Describe the first meeting between Upagupta and the dancing girl. (100-150 words) • The setting • Their exchange
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Setting: August night, lamps out, doors shut, stars hidden; monk asleep on the dust.
- Exchange: anklets touch his breast; lamp; her beauty; invitation; reply; storm.
Answer: The first meeting takes place on a dark monsoon night in August. Upagupta lies asleep on the dust by the city wall of Mathura; 'Lamps were all out, doors were all shut, and stars were all hidden by the murky sky'. The darkness and silence show the monk's humble, solitary life.
Suddenly feet tinkling with anklets touch his breast. He wakes, and the light of a woman's lamp falls on his 'forgiving eyes'. She is a dancing girl, glittering with jewels and 'drunk with the wine of her youth'. Struck by his austere beauty, she apologises and invites him to her house, since the dusty earth is no bed for him. He gently refuses: 'Woman, go on your way; when the time is ripe I will come to you.' At once lightning flashes, the storm growls, and she trembles, a hint of the trouble to come. (148 words)
Example 4: 5-mark model: the second meeting · 5 marks · Long answerHarder exam level
Describe the second meeting. (100-150 words) • The spring setting • What Upagupta finds and does
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Setting: blossom, flute, festival of flowers, full moon, koels; empty town.
- Finding: woman with the black pestilence driven out; he nurses her; her question; his answer.
Answer: The second meeting comes in spring. The wayside trees ache with blossom, flute music floats on the warm air, and the citizens have gone to the woods for the festival of flowers. The full moon looks down on a silent town while love-sick koels call from the mango trees. It is a season of beauty and celebration.
Yet at the base of the city wall Upagupta finds a woman 'struck with the black pestilence, her body spotted with sores', hurriedly driven out of the town. Abandoned by the city, she has no one. The monk sits beside her, takes her head on his knees, moistens her lips and smears balm on her sores. When she asks, 'Who are you, merciful one?' he replies that the time has at last come to visit her. The proud dancer of the first meeting now receives the love she truly needs. (147 words)
Example 5: 10-mark model: the title · 10 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency
Comment on the appropriateness of the title Abhisara: The Tryst. (200-250 words)
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Meaning of abhisara/tryst: lover's secret meeting.
- Expectation raised by the first meeting: a beautiful woman invites a young man home.
- Reversal: the real meeting is at the city wall, in disease, by moonlight, unseen.
- Spiritual love versus physical love; promise kept.
- Conclusion: ironic yet exact.
Answer: The title is both ironic and exactly right.
'Abhisara' in Indian poetic tradition, and 'tryst' in English, mean a secret meeting of lovers, often a woman's journey at night to meet her beloved. The first scene seems to promise such a story: on a dark night a beautiful dancing girl, 'drunk with the wine of her youth', stumbles upon a young ascetic, is struck by his face, 'austerely beautiful', and invites him to her house.
Upagupta, however, declines and promises to come 'when the time is ripe'. The tryst he keeps is quite different. On a spring night, when the citizens have gone to the festival of flowers and the town is silent under the full moon, he goes alone to the city wall, as a lover might, and finds the woman abandoned there, 'struck with the black pestilence'. He takes her head on his knees and tends her sores. It is a secret meeting at night, unseen by anyone, but its love is compassion, not desire.
The title therefore overturns our expectations. It suggests that the deepest love is spiritual and selfless, and that its proper moment is the moment of need. His final words, 'The time, at last, has come to visit you, and I am here', complete the tryst.
Thus the title captures the poem's central irony and its message: true love comes not to beauty in its pride but to suffering in its loneliness. (245 words)
Where the marks are
How a typical answer is marked: the value points the examiner looks for and the marks each earns.
10-mark poetry answer (200-250 words). Indicative split: CISCE schemes list expected points and accept any interpretation supported by the poem; no numerical split is printed. (10 marks)
| Step | Marks |
|---|---|
| A clear position or focus that answers the exact question | 1 |
| Four or five relevant points on content and technique | 4 |
| Accurate short quotations, explained | 3 |
| Organisation, expression, personal response and conclusion | 2 |
5-mark answer on two bullet points (100-150 words). (5 marks)
| Step | Marks |
|---|---|
| First bullet point with a quotation explained | 2 |
| Second bullet point with a quotation explained | 2 |
| Expression and focus within 150 words | 1 |
Where students lose marks in Abhisara: The Tryst – Rabindranath Tagore
The slips examiners see most often, and what to write instead.
Mistake: Reading the poem as a romance
The title 'The Tryst' leads students to describe a love affair.
Wrong working
'Upagupta fell in love with the dancer and visited her later.'
Right working
'The real tryst is an act of compassion: he comes to nurse her when everyone else has abandoned her.'
Do this: Explain the irony of the title.
Usually costs: The central idea of any long answer.
Mistake: Mixing up the two scenes
Students place the storm in spring or the festival in August.
Do this: First meeting: August, dark, storm, invitation. Second: spring, moon, festival, plague.
Usually costs: MCQs and 5-mark answers.
Mistake: Saying Upagupta rejected her cruelly
Students miss the promise in his reply and his 'forgiving eyes'.
Do this: Point out the gentleness of the refusal and the promise that is later kept.
Usually costs: Character analysis.
Mistake: Ignoring the role of the city
Students focus only on the two characters.
Do this: Note that the citizens are at the festival and that the town drove her out: society's indifference sharpens the monk's compassion.
Usually costs: Depth in theme answers.
Practice questions on Abhisara: The Tryst – Rabindranath Tagore
Write each answer on paper first. Open the hint only if you are stuck, and the answer only when you have finished.
Q1 · 1 mark · MCQExam level
In which month does the first meeting take place? (a) April (b) August (c) December (d) March
Hint
'stars were all hidden by the murky sky of ____'.
Answer
(b) August.
Q2 · 1 mark · Very short answerExam level
Complete the sentence: The woman was lying in the shadow of the city wall because ____.
Hint
What had struck her, and what had the town done?
Answer
...she had been struck with the black pestilence and hurriedly driven away from the town.
Q3 · 5 marks · Long answerHarder exam level
What do we learn about Upagupta's character from the poem? (100-150 words) • In the first meeting • In the second meeting
Hint
Sleeping on the dust, forgiving eyes, gentle refusal; keeping his word, nursing without fear.
Answer
Expected points: first meeting: humble ascetic sleeping on the dust; calm 'forgiving eyes' even when startled; self-controlled, he declines the invitation of a beautiful, rich woman, but gently, with a promise; second meeting: keeps his word; compassionate and fearless, he nurses a plague-stricken outcast whom the whole city has abandoned; humble, he answers her question simply; he embodies Buddhist compassion.
Q4 · 5 marks · Long answerHarder exam level
How does Tagore use nature in the poem? (100-150 words) • The August night • The spring night
Hint
Darkness, storm, the night's teeth; blossom, flute, moon, koels; contrast with the woman's fate.
Answer
Expected points: the August night is dark and murky, with lamps out and stars hidden; the storm and lightning ('showed its teeth', 'growled') are threatening and foreshadow misfortune; the spring night is beautiful, with blossom, flute music, the full moon and koels; yet its beauty is ironic, since the woman lies diseased and abandoned while the town celebrates; nature therefore mirrors and contrasts with the human story.
Q5 · 10 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency
How does Tagore use contrast to convey the message of the poem? (200-250 words)
Hint
Seasons, the woman's two states, the monk's constancy, the city's festival and her abandonment, desire and compassion.
Answer
Expected points: two parallel scenes, each beginning with a question; August storm versus spring moonlight; the woman 'starred with jewels' versus 'spotted with sores'; she invites him to her house versus she is driven out of the town; the city's festival versus the outcast at the wall; her offer from attraction versus his visit from compassion; the monk remains unchanged, showing constant spiritual love. The contrasts teach that worldly beauty passes but compassion endures. Organised, with quotations and a conclusion.
Q6 · 10 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency
'Abhisara: The Tryst presents love as service.' Give a personal response to this view with reference to the poem. (200-250 words)
Hint
Compare the love the woman offers with the love Upagupta gives; is the monk's love cold or deeply warm?
Answer
Expected points: the woman's invitation is courteous but rooted in attraction to his beauty; the monk's love is shown in action: taking her head on his knees, water, balm; it asks nothing in return and comes when she has nothing to give; it is not cold renunciation but warm care ('merciful one'); some readers may feel the refusal in the first scene is harsh, but the ending shows it was not rejection; personal response with reasons; conclusion.
Test your recall
Answer in your head or on paper first, then open the card. Pulling an answer out of memory makes it stick far better than re-reading.
1.Where was Upagupta sleeping?Show answer
On the dust by the city wall of Mathura.
2.How is the dancing girl described at first?Show answer
Starred with jewels, clouded with a pale-blue mantle, drunk with the wine of her youth.
3.Why was the town empty on the spring night?Show answer
The citizens had gone to the woods for the festival of flowers.
4.What was wrong with the woman at the second meeting?Show answer
She had the black pestilence; her body was spotted with sores and she had been driven out of the town.
5.What does 'abhisara' mean?Show answer
A lover's journey to a secret meeting; a tryst.
Quick revision checklist
The night before the exam: can you do each of these without looking?
- Can you describe both meetings with their settings?
- Can you explain the promise 'when the time is ripe' and its fulfilment?
- Can you list four contrasts between the two scenes?
- Can you explain the irony of the title?
- Can you write a personal response on the kind of love the poem celebrates?
Abhisara: The Tryst – Rabindranath Tagore: frequently asked questions
Who was Upagupta?
In Buddhist tradition, a monk of Mathura in the line of the Buddha's disciples, remembered as a great teacher; the poem calls him 'the disciple of Buddha'.
Is the woman named in the poem?
Tagore's Fruit-Gathering version calls her 'the dancing girl'. The legend names her Vasavadatta, and some versions of the poem, including widely used study texts of the Rhapsody poem, use that name.
Was the poem written in English?
It was written in Bengali as 'Abhisar'. Tagore's own English version appeared in Fruit-Gathering (1916).
What is the 'black pestilence'?
A deadly epidemic, the plague; she was driven out of the town for fear of infection.
Based on: CISCE ISC 2028 English (801) syllabus (Classes XI and XII): Literature in English, Class XI (Rhapsody); Rabindranath Tagore, Fruit-Gathering (1916), poem XXXVII (Project Gutenberg eBook #6522, public domain); Englicist: Abhisara - The Tryst, text and notes (Rhapsody version, used for cross-checking)